Gildan Activewear to set up yarn-spinning units in US

Canada’s Montreal-based apparel producer Gildan Activewear intends to spend US$ 85 million to set up yarn-spinning facilities in southern parts of the US.

The investment would help the company to set up its first production unit in the US, allowing it to benefit from low electricity charges and technological expertise.

The new facilities are expected to create hundreds of job opportunities for people who would produce yarn, which would then be transformed into clothes at the company’s low-cost centres in other countries and would then be exported to the US without any duty payment.

The company engaging in production of T-shirts, socks and other clothing items intends to employ 200 new workers at a new soft ring spun yarn facility slated to commence operations in 2013.

It also plans to add 230 new workers at its Georgia and North Carolina-based facilities, which came under its ownership after Gildan obtained full control of a joint venture in first part of the current year.

Gildan is once again beginning its production in the US, several years after winding up its high-cost apparel production in the US and Canada, to relocate to Central America and the Caribbean.